The Tribunal (professional wrestling)

The Tribunal is a villainous professional wrestling tag team in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), which consists of Basile Baraka and Baron Dax.^[3] They spent time in WWE, in the developmental territory NXT.

History

WWE

NXT (2013–2016)

In December 2013, Sylvester Lefort and Marcus Louis formed a tag team under the name The Legionnaires playing up a gimmick based on their French heritage. They made their debut as a tag team on December 19, 2013 in a triple threat tag team elimination match against Colin Cassady and Angelo Dawkins, and The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor), which was won by Cassady and Dawkins.^[4] On the May 8, 2014 episode of NXT, The Legionnaires were defeated by Kalisto and El Local.^[5] On August 21 episode of NXT, The Legionnaires began a feud with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady losing to them in a tag team match.^[6] On September 11, Lefort faced Enzo Amore in a Hair vs Hair match at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way and was defeated, but did not adhere to the stipulation post-match and instead ran away, leaving his partner Marcus Louis to be shaved bald instead. The following weeks Lefort and Louis tried to get revenge on Amore and Cassady. On the October 16 episode of NXT, Louis finally snapped and turned on Lefort and attacked him during a tag match. On February 5, 2016, Lefort and Louis were released from their WWE contract.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2016–present)

On March 17, 2016, Tom La Ruffa and Pierre Marceau made their Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) debuts at TNA One Night Only's Victory Road 2 pay-per view losing to The BroMans (Robbie E and Jessie Godderz).^[7] On March 23, they signed a contract with TNA,^[8] with La Ruffa being renamed Basile Baraka and Marceau being renamed Baron Dax.^[9]

On the May 24 episode of Impact Wrestling, Baraka and Dax made their televised debut, attacking Grado and Mahabali Shera, and aligning themselves with Al Snow.^[10] On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, the faction revealed their name as "The Tribunal".^[11] On June 12 at Slammiversary, The Tribunal defeated the team of Grado and Shera.^[12] On the June 14 episode of Impact Wrestling, The Tribunal have a four-way tag team match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Grado and Mahabali Shera, The BroMans and Decay, in a losing effort. On the June 28 episode of Impact Wrestling, The Tribunal and Al Snow were defeated by Grado, Mahabali Shera, and Tyrus. On the August 4 episode of Impact Wrestling, The Tribunal and Al Snow were defeated by Grado and Mahabali Shera in a handicap match. On the August 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, The Tribunal were defeated by Matt Hardy and Brother Nero. The Tribunal failed to win the Ascension To Hell Ladder match in a match featuring The Broken Hardys, The Helms Dynasty and The BroMans. On the October 13 episode of Impact Wrestling, they attacked The Broken Hardys. On the October 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, The Tribunal were defeated by The Broken Hardys in a match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. After the match, they were attacked by the new stable known as Death Count Council. On the November 10 episode of Impact Wrestling, as The Tribunal brutally attacked Al Snow, ending their alliance, and Mahabali Shera made the save.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Baron Dax
    • The French Revolution (Ura nage slam)
  • Basile Baraka
    • Superkick
• Double team finishing moves
  • Guillotine (Backbreaker hold / Diving elbow drop combination)
• Managers
  • Al Snow
• Entrance themes
  • "France Rules, France Règles" by CFO$ (NXT; December 19, 2013 – October 16, 2014; as The Legionnaires)
  • "EV2.0" (Remix) by Dale Oliver (TNA; May 31, 2016 – present; as The Tribunal)

Championships and accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked Baron Dax #194 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016^[13]
  • PWI ranked Basile Baraka #200 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016^[14]

References